Norton helps Braves rally past Marlins

Greg Norton delivered a two-run double in the bottom of the
eighth inning, leading the Braves to a 5-4 triumph over the
Florida Marlins on Tuesday.

Chipper Jones belted his 399th career home run - a three-run
shot in the first inning - for Atlanta, which also rallied to
top Florida in the series opener on Monday after blowing a
ninth-inning lead.

"It was nice," Jones said. "The last two games haven't been
pretty, but we got the job done."

Dan Uggla homered twice and drove in three runs for the Marlins,
who have lost six of their last seven games.

Will Ohman (3-0) worked around a hit and a walk in the eighth
and Rafael Soriano retired the side in order in the ninth to
pick up his second save for the Braves, who improved to a
National League-best 24-7 at home this season.

Atlanta has looked like two completely different teams at home
and on the road the season.?? The club has dominated inside of
the friendly confines of Turner Field but has been unable the
catch a break on the road, dropping a major league-worst 21 of
28 games.

"Maybe we'll wear our white shirts on the road," Norton said of
the Braves' home jerseys. "It's a big win. It's June, but
every win counts."

A little bit of good old Southern luck led to yet another win in
their home white uniforms on Tuesday.

Jones ignited the late rally with a leadoff single to left field
and Mark Teixeira followed with a double, setting the stage for
struggling Norton.

Apparently, there was some of that magic at Turner Field left
for even Norton, who was batting a paltry .163 entering the
at-bat. He laced the first pitch he saw from Matt Lindstrom
(1-1) past diving first baseman Mike Jacobs for a double,
plating Jones and Teixeira to erase a 4-3 deficit.

"My thought is that since it is a comedy (playing) left field,
is that I'm trying to drive in more runs than I give up," said
the converted first baseman who made a couple of adventurous
catches in the outfield. "I don't think that (Braves manager
Bobby Cox) is playing me for my defense. He's hoping I can get
a hit."

"That guy throws a million miles per hour," Jones said of
Lindstrom. "I got a ball to fall and Teixeira popped one. I
was happy for Greg. He's been playing well for us, but he
hasn't gotten a lot to fall in. It was good to see him get a
big hit."

The opportunistic hit made a winner of Ohman, who also was the
beneficiary of Monday's comeback.?? Soriano breezed through the
ninth to record his first save since April 6.

Norton's heroics capped another successful night for the Braves
and their best hitter.?? Jones, who finished 2-for-4 to raise his
major league-leading average to .409, also moved within one of
400 career homers by belting a shot off Florida starter Burke
Badenhop in the first to give Atlanta a 3-1 advantage.

With the blast, Jones moved past Braves legend Dale Murphy and
into a tie with Al Kaline and former Brave Andres Galarraga for
43rd place on the all-time list.?? He will join Hall of Famers
Eddie Murray (504) and Mickey Mantle (536) as the only switch
hitters to blast at least 400 homers with his next shot.

"It's really crazy. I don't ever think about that kind of stuff
until you bring it up," Jones said. "And it is making me blush.
I looked up to Murphy and worked with Murphy in my adolescent
years in baseball.

"I played with 'Cat' (Galarraga). Bobby compared me to Kaline
back in my younger days. These names to be compared to makes me
really proud."

Atlanta's offensive heroics overshadowed a sensational night by
Uggla, who collected his third multi-homer game of the season.

A former Rule 5 draft pick, Uggla - who hit a franchise-record
12 homers in May - drew his club within 3-2 with a solo blast
into the right field seats off Atlanta starter Jorge Campillo in
the second inning.?? Two frames later, the slugger bashed his
18th of the season over the left field wall for his eighth
career multi-homer performance.

"(The two home runs) didn't matter when you didn't win the
game," Uggla said. "Winning is all that matters. (The homers)
put us on top for a while."

Campillo, who entered this one allowing only one earned run over
his first three starts this season, finally looked human. He
surrendered four runs and six hits while walking one and
striking out three in four frames.

Meanwhile, Badenhop settled down after walking Teixeira
following Jones' three-run blast. The righthander, who allowed
just one hit thereafter, yielded three runs and three hits in
five frames.

Jorge Cantu opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first
for the Marlins, who fell to 2-6 on their 10-game road swing
against NL East Division opponents.

NLAT ATLANTA - SCORING UPDATETWO-RUN HOME RUN BY DAN UGGLA (18) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN THE 4TH OFF JORGE CAMPILLO SCORED MIKE JACOBS.CURRENT SCORE: FLORIDA 4, ATLANTA 3DUE UP FOR FLORIDA: L GONZALEZ (.300, 0-FOR-1)